Happy 4th Anniversary to Us!

We celebrated 4 years of marriage on May 8th by spending an evening in Ballard as a family.

For dinner, we ate at La Carta de Oaxaca and were thoroughly impressed by the food (not necessarily the service, however). Try the Mole Negro:

and spicy salsa bar:

Then we topped off next door at Hot Cakes, for hot butterbeer (delicious!) and s'mores lava cake.
****I have been taking a clothing pattern making class from the NYFA in Ballard and walk past this restaurant every Thursday.
Also Anniversary related, we went to the Redmond Saturday Market the weekend before and treated ourselves to the beautiful flowers:

kettle corn:

and alpacas:

Pampa and Dama

Elliott ("Ezzie") and I surprised my dad ("Pampa") for his birthday! We spent 8 days at my parents' house in Laguna Niguel, which is always a dream to visit.
This post will be light on words and heavy on photos, because I am actually writing it on Feb 25th of 2014, but the trip was in mid April 2013.
Beach Day #1 with "Dama":

 I loved seeing little traces of Elliott around my childhood home: playdough on the counter.

 Even though I grew up here, I am always amazed at how beautiful it is when I visit:

 Beach Day #2:

 After church on a Sunday afternoon:

Visiting friends staying on a boat in the Dana Point Harbor. We brought bagels and OJ for breakfast:

 Elliott got to nap in the boat and Ken and Corrie babysat him while I went to the temple with my parents:

 My Mom and Dad!

 Happy Birthday, Pampa! Thanks for having us visit. We love you.

Birthday Yardwork

For my 28th Birthday last week, Adam and I and some friends fixed up our yard!
Before (actually, during):

After:

I was tired of looking at the giant yard debris heap built up from last year (below),

and wanted more flat, usable space in our slightly sloping backyard...so, I decided to use the logs and sticks as walls for terraces, supported by re-bar. It worked quite well. We used every scrap in the debris heap to build and shape the terraces. Now I just need to finish the top with plant-able soil/compost and we are in business!

In just 2 hours, we made 2 "terraces" on the right side (above); and then Adam and I spent the rest of the day making  one on the left side (below); making a compost area using a pallet; and washed the Argosy. It was amazing.

Thank you, friends! We could not have done it without you!

We (Cydney) also found a secret egg nest of 16 eggs! we water tested them and they were all good :)

 Elliott had the time of his life running around with our friend's daughter, digging in the mud with shovels, and eating jelly beans.

I love how it turned out; you wouldn't guess how drastically it has improved my quality of life...and the chickens'.

Gingerbread Play House

A few days before Christmas, I stayed up late gluing and taping this house together and it has been worth every late night minute. Elliott plays in his "haus" every day (and every kid who comes over loves it) plus I think it is so cute. I was inspired by this gingerbread house project on my friend's blog. I love how the cardboard color makes the perfect gingerbread with white paint as frosting :)

Current Knitting

Chevron baby blanket in sock weight yarn.

"Haruni" shawl in robin's egg blue lace weight yarn.

Elliott's word for "toothpaste"

Elliott's word for toothpaste is "poo taste"

Ski Day Feb 9th, 2013

We took a day trip to Steven's Pass and had a lovely, successful ski day.

Elliott on the way there:

 Getting geared up to ski with Dad:

 Elliott loved skiing, but would have preferred to ride his own snowboard:

I am improving my ski turns. I ski very gingerly and rarely fall, but Adam's about twice as fast as I am. Elliott had a new, improved snow outfit which made the day more pleasant for all. Snow boots, a puffy jacket with extra long sleeves that doubled as mittens, scarf for cheeks. Did you know babies cheeks can get frost bitten? It happened to Elliott last year! He was only 5 months old...so sad.

 Snacks in the lodge! Elliott takes after his mom and dad - he loves to eat!

 Snow kisses:

 Elliott on the way home:

Thanks Dad/Adam for a good ski day. I know I drag my heels the day before, but I always have fun :)